Tag Archives: pressure canning

I would like to apologize. I am a guest blogger today, and I accidentally published something while trying to link. This is why I don’t have much to do with technology 🙂

With Valerie is in Kansas for a week to help with an ill family member, I have the pleasure of being a Guest Blogger for Bygone Basics. First, I’ll introduce myself, and then, I’ll let you read what you came for in peace 🙂

My name is Jessica, and I’m Valerie’s oldest daughter. Mom, jokingly calles me her Scullery Maid. I’ve been helping with the heritage kitchen whenever I can, and I love *almost* every minute of it. (I mean, who truly enjoys the cleanup?)

Waste Not, Want Not

Have you ever thought about all of the trimmings you throw away, or even toss on the compost? I never really did either, but it turns out the answer is: A lot! Recently, Valerie and I stumbled upon a wonderful blog post: Five Packaged Foods You Never Need To Buy Again by Jane Mountain. I’ll be the first to admit that I got a bit carried away in my excitement. My second favorite part of the Bygone Basics is learning how to take food as far as it will go, so the idea of saving the trimmings, bones, and juices really got me excited.

You mean….. I can use garbage to make all the soup I could ever hope for!!?

(For those wondering, my favorite is the health aspect. There’s just nothing like using raw closest-to-nature products, and the only drawback is cost. Hence my excitement!) Imagine my shock when Valerie told me that she already knew all about this. It’s so easy, why weren’t we already doing this? (Her answer was that she found she got great eggs from the chickens by feeding them the trimmings.) I figured we can do both….first make the soup stock and then feed the skimmed off, boiled stuff to the chickens. Worked like a charm! We got four times the product from our food. ate the carrot, peelings and ends went into making stock….and the the chickens got everything strained out of the stock…and we got our eggs. NOTE: chickens didn’t get the bones…those got composted.

A lot of product was gotten out of everyday "trash". This is a shot of our fresh soup stock and some of the day's pasta sauce all canned and ready for the shelves.

After about a week of saving, we had enough to start making a meat/vegetable stock. (I’m still waiting to make just veggie stock. There is much anticipation for a huge mess and a delicious way to squeeze every last drop of goodness out of these vegetables .) It sure isn’t a pretty process, and it takes a lot of time to boil down. But really, we just did other things while it simmered (sure smelled good). I have to tell you, I don’t see any future need to buy soup or bullions.

Now is the time

During the summer, everyone is rushing to get their produce in jars before it spoils. There’s really no time to try out any of the fancy recipes you dream of doing when it’s a race against time. However, winter is the perfect time to start unsealing some of those jars and making that spaghetti sauce, or to try any other experiment you’ve always wanted to try. Such an urge grabbed Valerie just last week, at the same time we were doing the meat stock. She began breaking into some canned basic tomatoes, herbs she’d dried, and threw a few fresh ingredients in there. This is also a great way to turn disappointment into satisfaction. Amanda and myself had messed up a bruschetta recipe…she added that too…a perfect way to put some good use to those still-good tomatoes. The result was a delicious pasta sauce that’s also healthy! (My favorite part.)

Remedy from Ukraine

In December, I returned home from spending a few months in Kiev. I was there teaching English, and honing my Russian language abilities. Of course, I ended up sick a couple of times, and so my host family made me some “tea.” Surprisingly, it was as easy as putting some lemon slices in some hot water, and squishing the juices out of them with a spoon. It went down so nicely. What a great way to give your immune system a boost! This is the time of year when people begin to get sick, and this is a great, simple home remedy to drink before or after you start feeling poorly. Stay healthy!

Contact Valerie today by calling (231) 740-4065, or emailing ICan@bygonebasics.com to ask about the February classes, (click to here check them out) put in an order, or schedule your own Experience. Be sure to visit the newly redesigned (and easier to navigate Bygone Basics website. www.bygonebasics.com

You might not agree, but I think this photo is a thing of beauty. Stock simmering in the back and pasta sauce simmering in the front. I wish you all could have shared in the aroma!

Squash in the Bygone Basic's garden...before it snuck out of the fence.

Just letting you know that I’m still here. I’ve …well…you read the title of this Blog….a bit overwhelmed by life. It is truly amazing, but gets crazy too, doesn’t it?!

Lately, I’ve been putting by everything that doesn’t run faster than me. And if I can find someone who will do a bit of hunting for me…well then…all bets are off on that too. We also have had a lot of Bygone Basics guests come to learn how to make these heritage recipes themselves, while immersed in old-farmhouse style atmosphere and tools…they are always surprised how easy old-fashioned baking and home canning really is. Especially when I show them (if they wish to know) how a few of today’s tools can speed things up with out reducing the quality of the food.

I’ve also added pies to my line of baked goods that you can order through the Bygone Basics pantry. Right now a lot of various types of apple pies are going through the ovens. Pumpkin pies are following in popularity.

I’ve submitted an application for a Special Use Permit to turn our old manse into “Amanda’s Bequest – A Heritage Immersion Bed & Breakfast.” More on this in the future.

As the season changes into autumn and the weather is colder, so is my house (because when I’m the only one in it I can put on a sweater and I hate high fuel bills).

Did you know that in the past, home baking served a dual purpose? Food was baked, not only for the table, but also to keep the house warm.

I follow that principle as well. Lately, I’ve been baking squash for pies, breads, and savory dinners. Squash is such a nutritious and versatile fruit. It is just as tasty in desserts as it is in the main meal. It is surprisingly cheap and easy too. Here’s my simple treatment of it:

Cut the squash in half or smaller if it is really large (by squash, I refer to pumpkins and other winter squash such as acorn, Hubbard, and butternut). About 4-5 inch chunks are good. Don’t worry about peeling, just wash and cut up. Remove the seed portion with a spoon easily once it is cut.

Line a large pan (cookie sheet or 13×9) with foil and spray or wipe with oil. Place the squash cut side down. Place in oven (as many racks as you can fit for maximum energy use) at 325 F. Bake until fork slides easily into squash to shell. This may take two or more hours and is dependent on ripeness, variety, and cut up size of squash (smaller pieces cook faster). Really easy right? I must warn you, it will start smelling really good towards the end and you will want to serve some of that for dinner!

Once soft throughout, take out of oven and cool for 15 minutes. Use a knife or spoon to scrape the flesh from the shell. At this point it is perfectly useable in recipes and for dinner. I take it one step further. I press it through my cone shaped food mill with a wooden pusher (that is ages old, but works like a charm!). That takes all of a few minutes. You can use any type of food mill you have. Voila! Yellow Gold!

Make pumpkin pie using eggs from your free range chickens (I do anyway); serve it with butter (or bacon grease) and salt/pepper for dinner; can it for future yums!! It makes great sweet breads and even baby food. You can even add brown sugar and butter for a great “Thanksgiving sweet potato” taste…

I promise to look the other way if you decide to add marshmallows to the top.

Squash we grew for the sense of humor in its name...Great Warty Thing. It is true to its name!

If you didn’t have the space to grow squash, it is incredibly reasonable to buy this time of year and stores until you have time to bake it. I’ve even been known to bake the flesh of my jack-o-lanterns on Halloween eve. Why not? I’ve already gone through the work of removing the seeds and since I carve my pumpkins the day of Halloween, it is still fresh. Waste not – Want not.

I found it next to impossible to do a blog the last bit of December. I’m quite frightened by how fast time passes. Before I know it, it seems I’ll be 80 or so!
We are (mostly) all moved to our new “digs” in Montague. It went much faster than expected. Which, I suppose, is in keeping with my time flying lately!
Husband John is busy hitting one task after another and now, with the new year, must tackle the BIG ONE. He will gut out a front room in our new-old home and install a private kitchen for Bygone Basics. We are using a kitchen that came with the house (there were two). We wouldn’t dream of gutting a room in such a fine old house, but someone beat us to it and put in a drop ceiling, stick-on floor linoleum squares, 2 goofy inner walls and a really badly done bathroom. So….putting in the heritage kitchen will be an improvement. It will be a few months before this project will be complete! So we continue to use the big main kitchen in the home for a while.
Speaking of kitchens, Bygone Basics had it’s biggest Experience yet. We had a family of five adults and we did home pressure canning and made three different types of pie from basic ingredients….and had a blast doing it. Check out the pictures on our Facebook page. Click here to go check it out now.

Many hands make a FUN time in the kitchen!

Jorgensen family with some of their products made in the Bygone Basics kitchen

Bygone Basics

Amanda’s Bequest Bed & Breakfast

Subscribe to "I Can at Bygone Basics" Blog

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join me in the Bygone Basics kitchen

Want to participate in heritage kitchen skills? Baking, canning, soap making, candle dipping...and more in a 140 year old home but with a very unique kitchen designed to immerse you in how it was, but equip you with how to go home and repeat what you learned here. Click on the logo above (www.bygonebasics.com)

This is what I do!! Join me. :) It is always fun and a lasting memory.

Drop me a note at ICan@bygonebasics.com to check for scheduling as these sessions are tailored to YOU and YOUR group and are private.

Since we are also a heritage farm stay Bed & Breakfast, you can stay here too! www.amandasbequest.com Click on the logo above.